"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

3/27/13

WIP Wednesday 3/27/2013

This is going to be my last post for awhile. I'm leaving in the morning for my Dads. I've decided to leave the laptop at home because internet will be hard to come by on this trip.

I thought I'd do a WIP Wednesday post. This is the matching hat I'm making for the electric green baby cardigan.



I have figured out what knitting I'm packing for the trip. I'm going to take St. Brigid since I'm in a KAL for that one. I want to keep going on it. Octopus will be set aside until I get back. I'm also taking the above hat, yarn to make another hat for the turquoise baby cardigan, and supplies to make a pair of mittens for KnitWits. That should hold me more than enough. If not, there's a yarn shop there.

I had a really bad night last night. The phone rang in the middle of it. The hospital called to tell me my dad was having pulmonary edema and was not cooperating. They wanted him to wear an oxygen mask to help him breath and he was refusing it. Not sure what that was about. I felt so bad for the nurse. She refers to him as the cantankerous one now, which makes me laugh. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night though worrying about him.

I called the hospital first thing when I got up. He made it through the night and is coughing. Coughing is a good thing when you have pulmonary edema. I talked to him for a minute and let him know when I'd be there and asked him to be nicer. The staff at the hospital are helping him get well. I just talked to the nurse, he's not being so disagreeable now.

The stress is affecting my Panic Attack Anxiety Disorder. I'm having horrible panic attacks. I'm working my way through them though. I've got a list of 18 things to do to calm me down when it happens. I'm pretty certain once I get back there and can know what's going on for myself I will feel much better. It's mostly fear from the unknown. In fact, when I think about being on the plane I calm down a bit.




If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.

Well, I have some packing to finish. Take care dear readers. Until I return...

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/25/13

Electric Green

I am exhausted. I've been on the phone all day. My father had a stroke yesterday and is in intensive care at the hospital. He lives in northern Michigan. My cousin, Susie, takes care of him when he needs it, so she's handling things at the moment but I need to fly back there and help her out and get some things taken care of. I've scheduled a flight for Thursday.

Flying to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan is a chore. It takes all day to get there. I'll be leaving at 6am and won't arrive until late at night. I will have been to 4 different airports by the time I arrive. But at least I don't have to drive there, or take a bus. Plane is still the fastest way to go. Not the most comfortable (unless you like being a sardine in a can), but the fastest.

I am not sure how he's doing. I hear different stories. I have to go there to see it before I'll actually know. The nurse who is assigned to him has been very helpful, but unless I can talk to the doctor, I really can't trust what I'm hearing. Unfortunately, my dad won't let me talk to him. My dad can be very stubborn. (Did I mention he's a red head?) I think he's going to be okay. They are planning to take him out of ICU tomorrow afternoon. He's cogent, everything seems to be working okay. His legs are just extremely weak. Won't know if he will be able to walk for a few days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Between phone calls I blocked the electric green and black baby cardigan. Then I sewed on the buttons. It is officially finished.



Electric Green Candy Cardigan

Pattern: Candy Cardigan by Anna and Heidi Pickles

Yarn: In the Loop Sport from BigLots! in electric green.
Content: 100% Acrylic
Yarn: Spa by Naturallycaron.com in black.
Content: 75% Acrylic/25% Rayon from Bamboo.

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 6

Cast on: February 21, 2013
Completed: March 25, 2013

Adjustments: I used only 2 colors in the yoke. I reversed them, starting with color1. Instructions say to knit 13 cm of stockinette after the 2-color section. I knit until total piece length from cast on was 11 inches. I also knit the front bands on separate by picking up 65 sts along the edge.

Comments:  I made this for Knitwits. I love love LOVE how it turned out! How cute! I love the black yarn. It's very nice to work with, but the In the Loop Sport is a horrible yarn. I wouldn't recommend it for anything you want to last for awhile or be an heirloom. It has so many thick spots and little pills all over it.




 It's sufficient for this project because babies don't wear any one size for very long.



I bought some perfect little black buttons at Hancock Fabrics in Coeur d'Alene. I didn't have anything in my antique button stash that would work.



A close up of the stitch pattern.



It will keep a child in need warm.



I know I said I was not knitting anything else with this yarn as long as I live (I paraphrase) but I forgot I was going to make matching hats for both this and the turquoise Candy Cardigan. So I'm going to endure for two hats, then it's out of my life forever.

I have a cute picture of the boys to share today.



Last night they were napping on the top of the cat tree and they were holding paws. Is this not the sweetest thing you every saw? I squeed when I saw them.

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/22/13

And So It Ends

Got a call today. I've been let go of my position as Superintendent of Knitting at the North Idaho Fair. I think I mentioned at the end of last years fair how difficult a time I was having. We got a new manager. I was called into the office a couple weeks or so ago where I talked to him about the problems with the different departments in our building not working together and whatnot. Anyway, today he called to tell me I'm correct in that there is a serious problem in the building I work in, but he could not do anything about it because the problem personalities are too strong. Therefore, since I would be unhappy working in current conditions, he was removing me from the position. I'm welcome to work in some other department if I want, but I don't want. Quite frankly, I don't want a boss that can't deal with a serious problem with his employees. So I am no longer working at the fair.

Part of me is very upset because I care very much about our fair and not fixing the problem is doing far more harm than he can possibly imagine, and part of me is greatly relieved because, quite frankly, I don't really need the abuse and stress I put up with working with that bunch. Life moves forward, and maybe some day I can return to the position.

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/20/13

WIP Wednesday 3/20/2013

First of all, today is the first day of spring.



I made it through another winter. Hooray!!! Spring has definitely arrived here in north Idaho. My crocuses and daffodils are sprouting.

Now, on to today's WIPs.

I'm working on the 4th pattern repeat on the St. Brigid back. My progress is slow, but at least it's moving forward. The yarn looks so brown in pictures. I swear, it's green.



I just have the front bands to do on the electric green and black baby sweater. I finished the second sleeve this morning.



I think this will be the last thing I make using this yarn (BigLots In the Loop Sport). I really don't like it. I've got about 30 or so skeins of it left that I will give to Knit Wits. It's what I intended to do with it anyway. I just thought I'd give it all knit up into things. Blech. Let someone else wrestle knit with it.

Getting my hair trimmed this morning. The bangs are hangin' in my eyes again. Ta ta for now.




If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/19/13

An Apron

Someones birthday is coming up in about a month. In the past I've knitted her something, but I didn't feel like doing that this year. So after throwing several ideas around in my head, I decided to sew something for her. I made her an apron this past weekend.



I used to do a lot of sewing. I made most of my husbands clothes in the first few years of our marriage because it was so expensive to buy him clothes. He's 6'4" tall with extra long arms. Clothing for tall sizes was prohibitive for our meager budget.

After the second daughter came along, though, I ran out of time for sewing. Priorities changed. I know prices came down on tall sizes so it was easier to get store bought. But mostly, I was so busy taking care of 2 little girls.

This apron turned out to be a much bigger challenge than I figured it would be. In this simple little garment I had to quilt (the upper bib), put in darts (the lower bib),



do knife pleats in the skirt part,



and box pleats in the pockets.



 In addition, practically everything is lined. I say practically because the back of the skirt is supposed to be lined but I chose not to do that. There's also supposed to be some rick-rack trim, but I don't see the receiver of this gift as a rick-rack kind of person, so I left it out too.

I'm so out of practice I had a very hard time sewing a straight line, and finding all my tools was problematic. All in all, though, it turned out fine. I hope she likes it.

I love the fabric. I went to our local quilting shop, Bear Paw Quilting, for it. I'd never been in the shop before even though it's right next door to one of our local yarn shops. The fabric selection was jaw dropping. I expect I'll be going there again.

The pattern is a free one I found on the Internet called Pleated Apron. Actually, when I Googled 'free apron pattern' I was surprised at how many there are. Aprons must be 'in'.

I have some fabric leftovers so I'm going to make a couple matching potholders.

There's a little story I want to share that happened yesterday. As y'all know, I recently had a blog contest drawing. One of the prizes was a set of onyx and dalmatian jasper beaded stitch markers. Yesterday I went to pack the prizes in a box to ship to the winner. I'd left them on the dining room table, together. The yarn was there, and the jam, but the little ziplock bag with the stitch markers was nowhere to be found.

The thought came to me that perhaps Merino had managed to steal them. He loves to play with little plastic packages. So I searched the house. Ruth joined in the search. We looked everywhere. Under the furniture, behind the furniture, in every place we know Merino likes to hide his toys and places he wouldn't think of. Could not find it anywhere.

After some more thought I began to wonder if the scenario had more likely been Merino stole the bag, dropped it on the floor, and Cable grabbed and made off with it outside. She likes to chew on small things. Expecially plastic things. We try to keep them out of her reach, but Merino has become her partner in crime.

The guilty party.

I went outside to look around. The snow had finally melted off the back yard and the mess that is there is unbelievable! Little plastic bits of packaging all over the place, along with shredded paper towels, kleenexes, chewed up clothes pins, pencils, pens, missing computer parts, a pair of now-broken reading glasses, and whatnot. Ruth even found the buttons I bought for the lime and black baby cardigan. Everything Cable stole this winter is now showing. Oh My God! What a mess spread over the whole backyard! I began the arduous task of looking for the bag of stitch markers.

As I walked around searching every inch of the back yard it began to snow---hard. It snowed so hard the lawn was covered in just a matter of minutes making the search very difficult. Nevertheless, I spotted the upper half of the missing bag. Yup! She'd chewed it up. There is no sign of the bottom half or the stitch markers. This morning, after the snow finally melted away, I went out and looked everywhere for them. Either she buried them, or ate them. I keep going out to look every so often in hopes of finding them. I hope to laugh at this some day but right now I'm rather ticked off.

I made a new set of stitch markers. Fortunately I had enough leftover beads to do that.

Sigh. Sometimes I wonder what ever possessed me to get fur kids.

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/17/13

We Have a Winner

Thank you all who entered my little contest. Reading your comments was a good ego booster. Just what I needed this week. When I started this blog I never thought anyone would read it let alone read it regularly. I greatly appreciate it. I've been thinking about making some changes over the next year. I have some ideas for tutorials that I'd like to present. And, of course, I will continue with the moose stories as they occur.


We have 11 entries. The Random Number Generator chose the number:

--->    6    <---

Congratulations to  Jordyn Dunaway!

Jordyn,
Please email your snail mail address to :



If I don't hear from you before Thursday, I will pick another winner.

Live long and prosper. \\//



click on picture to embiggen

3/13/13

Beading a Bezel

This months challenge in the Seadbeadersters Yahoo group is beaded bezels on cabochons. This is something I hadn't done before. I decided to bezel a piece of Schist stone that I found in upper Priest River here in north Idaho while on one of our camping trips. It is a very sparkly stone. It has a lot of Mica in it.

I chose to do a Daisy Bezel which starts with a daisy chain, then it's built up with rows of peyote stitch. Instructions for this type of bezel can be found in Glenda Peysano's E-book titled Beaded Cabochon Bezels.

Front

A beaded bezel is quite different from a bead embroidery bezel. There is no glue involved. You actually bead around the sides so that the beading holds the cabochon in.  Here is the back. It's much darker in color than the front of the rock. I used 3 different sizes of seed beads in matte black. Size 11's, Delicas, and size 15's.

Back

I tried to do a little bit of scalloping around the inside edge on the front.



After putting the bezel on I decided to embellish it a bit with some size 15 beige-lined seed beads and Picasso 4mm firepolish crystals.



It's definitely one of the most unique pieces I've come up with.



Now I need to figure out what kind of necklace to hang it on.

This is medical week for me. Monday I had to go in for a full blood screening in preparation for a physical. Today I took Ruth in for an eye exam and new glasses. Thursday is my monthly blood test for the Coumedin I take. On Friday is my physical. I hope they don't find anything wrong with me.

Weather-wise, we have a pineapple express passing through our area this week. It got up to 55 degrees today. The wind was down right toasty. However, it rained so there was no sitting out on the deck for me. We're supposed to have more of the same tomorrow.

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/10/13

Blogiversary Contest 2013

I have been so unbelievably busy since coming home from our vacation! I didn't get to spend a single day at home this last week, and next week is going to be the same. I have finally got my contest goodies together now. So, in celebration of the beginning of my 7th year writing this blog, I am having a giveaway contest.



I have three items in this years contest package. First we have 1 skein of Sweet Georgia  Yarns Tough Love Sock in the Tourmaline colorway.



Next we have an 8oz. jar of genuine Idaho Wild Huckleberry Jam.



Finally, we have a set of 6 beaded stitch markers made by yours truly-me. I made these with Onyx, Dalmatian Jasper, and Swarovski crystals.



The rules:

Contest entries will be accepted from now until 5pm pacific time Saturday, March 16th. To enter, leave a comment in this post telling me why you read my blog. ONE comment per person. No anonymous comments will be accepted. So if you don't have a Blogger screen name, please put your name in the comment.

I will assign a number to each comment in the order they are posted and then use a random number generator to pick the winner.

I'll announce the winner on Sunday, March 17th. That person will then need to email me their mailing address  within 4 days so I can send them their prize. If I don't hear from them, I will draw another winner.

Let the commenting begin!

Live long and prosper. \\//

3/4/13

6 and Counting

March 1st was my 6th Blogiversary. I had intended to post about it that day, but couldn't find the time. I also want to have a Blogiversary give away contest like I usually do. I need to get the prizes put together first. So have a little patience. I'll get it done in the next few days.

I have been working on the A Starmore sweater I started 2 years ago and then got distracted from and never went back to working on it. I found a Knit Along on Ravelry that is all about knitting AS WIPs. I now have 2 whole pattern repeats done on the back piece.



I have stopped working on the Octopi sweater because I got extremely frustrated with it. You see, 2 weeks ago I was in The Hug minding my own business, and knitting happily away on Octopi. I had just finished the 3rd row of the Octopus chart when Cashmere jumped into my lap and attacked the knitting. He got his claws caught in the fabric, panicked, and managed to pull a long loopy snag out before I could get him untangled. I mean, it was a few inches long. He really pulled hard. Normally, that's not such a big deal. I would just carefully weave it all back in. Not this time. He pulled one ply of the 4-ply yarn. Yeah. It was a mess! The only way I could think of to fix it was to unravel down to the spot where the snag was, retwist the plies back together, and reknit it all. I had to unravel to 2 inches before all that beautiful fairisle work. Two weeks of knitting wasted. Talk about frustrating! So it's in time out for a bit.

Yes, Cashmere is still alive.

I finished the yoke on the baby cardigan and I'm about an inch into the body part. It's coming along nicely.

We had the first planning meeting for the North Idaho Fair last week! It's a couple months earlier than usual. That's because we have a new fair manager and he does things differently. A lot of change is happening and had all the superintendents into quite a tizzy. Change is hard for most people. So I have a feeling it's gonna be a stressful year fair-wise. From the sound of things, I'm pretty happy he's in charge. All the changes are darn good ones. He is having all the buildings painted (some haven't been painted in years), some are being remodeled inside too, and he's mixing things up. The needlecraft department, which has been in our building, 3, for years is being moved to bulding 17. General and childrens crafts are being moved to our building.

Ah, changes. It will be interesting to see how all this works out.

Live long and prosper. \\//